Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

[jredmond]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

I have an older Primera Bravo and can not get the program to operate the loader.

Any plans for the older models?

BTW, I think this will be a great program!

Thanks!!! James

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

I don't think there is (yet) support for the Bravo line - those require use of the Primera SDK to operate via their proprietary USB driver. Perhaps you can ask spoon to look into what it would require to support the units?

-brendan

[Spoon]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

We have the SDK so can create a driver in the next 4 weeks, please email:

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/email.htm

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

We have the SDK so can create a driver in the next 4 weeks, please email:

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/email.htm

Cool, I've got a Bravo (I) to test too.

-brendan

[EliC]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Have they provided an SDK or any additional info for the composer max? After getting a new PC I need to see about getting a new motherboard for mine - I think the serial chip? is dead :-(

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Have they provided an SDK or any additional info for the composer max? After getting a new PC I need to see about getting a new motherboard for mine - I think the serial chip? is dead :-(

The current Primera low-level SDK (PTRobot) documentation doesn't explicitly say the ComposerMax is supported, however, it does have defines related to this unit:

4.4 Robot Type
#define ROBOT_DISCPUBLISHER 0 // Disc Publisher I
#define ROBOT_DISCPUBLISHERII 1 // Disc Publisher II
#define ROBOT_DISCPUBLISHERPRO 2 // Disc Publisher PRO
#define ROBOT_COMPOSERMAX 3 // ComposerMAX
#define ROBOT_RACKMOUNT_DPII 4 // Disc Publisher XR
#define ROBOT_DISCPUBLISHER_XRP 5 // Disc Publisher XRP
#define ROBOT_DISCPUBLISHER_SE 6 // Disc Publisher SE

In addition, there are concepts of drive "row" and "column" listed in the API which, in my book, only apply to the ComposerMax units.

So, yes it looks like the PTRobot SDK should support the hardware.

In addition, you may also want to try the beta ULCLI drivers that I sent to you, if and when the machine is working again. Since the ComposerMax was one of the last serial-based robots in their lineup, before the Bravo (read "Disc Publisher") series was released, it can be supported via the ULCLI.

-brendan

[EliC]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

I am building a new PC (because of problems w/ my current PC) and need to get a new serial cable. If that does not solve the problem I need to see if they will sell me a new motherboard. I cannot afford to have them work on the unit.

[malcolm_reynold]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Hi all. I've been using the reference release for a few weeks now and am quite impressed. I've ripped a hundred or so CD's and am about to embark on the rest of my collection of 800. I'm thinking that it's probably not worth buying an auto-loader, but it'd be great to have a collection of drives such as a CD server tower.

Does anyone have any experience with these towers or recommendations for models? I was considering an HP Surestore Tower such as:

http://shopper.cnet.com/network-storage/hp-surestore-cd-rom/4014-3382_9-32540738.html

Also, in regard to towers and the batch ripper, I'm hoping that I can use this workflow:
1) load a group of disks
2) confirm the meta information for each one with perfectmeta
3) rip the disks while i do something else
4) come back and confirm accuraterip and secure rip results
5) rinse & repeat

Does anyone know if that's possible and, if not, is there a way to use perfectmeta after the fact to correct bad tags?

Thanks in advance.

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Malcolm,

[I'll skip commenting on the process (steps 1 - 5) and comment only on hardware.]

I'd avoid buying a pre-made tower, as almost all of those are set up for either automated duplication or for CD/DVD sharing over a network (such as the unit you pointed to) in which case the drives only talk directly to an on-board purpose-built controller board. Neither genre of optical tower are set up to connect multiple drives directly to a host computer, which is what the batch ripper, like most rippers, expects to see.

If you still want to use multiple manually loaded drives, my recommendation would be one of three scenarios:

1. Assemble a purpose built computer with six or more externally-facing half-heigh 5.25" drive bays filled with optical drives, which you could then connect directly to the motherboard (ATA or SATA) or additional PCI cards (ATA or SATA). Finding the right case, in the right price range, can be troublesome.

2. Obtain a relatively cheap four to eight-bay external drive enclosure, fill it with optical drives and add the appropriate number of USB or firewire bridge boards, then connect that to your existing computer. Again, finding the right enclosure, in the right price range, can be troublesome.

3. Attach several external optical drives (via firewire or USB) in single drive enclosures to your current computer.

[And finally: both firewire and USB generally work. To take advantage of some of the rip-quality enhancing features of dbpoweramp, you'd want to enable C2 if your drive supports it. At the moment, that only works via ATA/SATA and some USB bridge chipsets. I suspect within a couple of months it will work with firewire as well, but there's no official timeline for that.]

-brendan

[Spoon]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Everything you mention can be done in batch ripper, infact for ease of ripping (if it is secure results you want to watch out for), in CD Ripper >> Options >> Secure Settings >> switch on the option to mark the track as error if insecure. Then any insecure discs will make its way to the reject column in batch ripper.

[malcolm_reynold]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Brendan-
Thanks for the advice. I had mistakenly assumed those servers would reveal the drives to the host OS... So I'll put a collection of drives together along the lines of one of your suggestions and if that proves to be more work than its worth, I'll invest in an autoloader and go from there.

Spoon-
Thanks for the clarification. Could you further clarify whether it's possible to use perfectmeta after the fact? It's the best tool I've seen (by far) for tagging, but I still tend to fix a tag or two on about 6 out of 10 disks. For me, accuraterip/secure rip results are the most important, but good tags are a close second. I'm ripping to FLAC and will batch convert later for my portables, so I'd like to have the ripping/tagging part done so I don't have to think about it ever again. (I spent about 6 weeks googling, lurking here and at HA, and experimenting with EAC, CDparanoia, iTunes, etc, before settling on dbpa. I feel like I'm on the cusp of being ready to rip nearly a thousand disks before I pile them into boxes and throw them in the attic).

In a perfect world, I'd use an autoloader to batch rip my whole collection and have it only notify me of accuraterip and/or secure errors, then I'd leisurely make my way through the metatag quagmire. In terms of workflow separating an insecure rip into a reject pile to deal with later is easy, but incorrect metatags generally take a little bit of brain time so I've found it's difficult to do something else productively while ripping.

Thanks again for taking the time to get back to me. The vitality of this forum was a part of my decision to use dbpa (though now that I've ripped 100 or so disks, I have to admit I'd be using it even if this forum didn't exist).

[Spoon]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

PerfectMeta can currently only be used when Ripping, not after.

[dasgeek]

Will dbpoweramp work for me?

I am considering purchasing dbpoweramp. I have been researching this for over a year. I am planning on ripping my entire CD collection of 3500 discs to FLAC format. I got a PowerFile last year an came across this program last fall. I have been waiting to see if the batch ripper will work. I have read most of the forum postings. I know some have had issues with PowerFiles.

I have a PowerFile C200-RAM unit (black with aluminum face). When I turn the unit on it displays version 4.0.2 (I assume the firmware version).

Do you think this unit will work. I want to rip my discs to individual FLAC files.

Thanks for your help.

[bhoar]

Re: Will dbpoweramp work for me?

IIRC, supposedly the Sony XL1B changer driver should work with at least one drive of Powerfile C200 units.

Download the trial, the beta of the batch ripper and the sony changer driver (the latter two from this subform's stickies) and find out...

-brendan

[PlanetMongo]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Just a check-in... Any plans for Plasmon D120 support?

I'd love to get rid of this PointSoft stuff and go with a "one software" package rip->encode setup. :D